THIS reached me, at too late a period to be included with
the legends of the saints :--

"The beacon at Veryan stands on the highest ground in
Roseland, at a short distance from the cliff which overlooks Pendower
and Gerrans Bay. Dr Whitaker, in his 'Cathedral of Cornwall,' states
it to be one of the largest tumuli in the kingdom. Its present
height above the level of the field in which it stands is about
twenty-eight feet, and its circumference at the base three hundred and
fifty feet; but it must have been originally much larger, as a
considerable portion on one side has been removed, its summit being now
about' eighty feet from the base on the south side, and only fifty feet
on the north, whilst the top of the cairn which was discovered in it,
and which 'was, no doubt, placed exactly in the original centre of
the mound, is at least ten feet still farther north than the present
summit.

"Atradition has been preserved in the
neighbourhood, that Gerennius, an old Cornish saint and king, whose
palace stood on the other side of Gerrans Bay, between Trewithian and
the sea, was buried in this mound many centuries ago, and that a golden
boat with silver oars were used in conveying his corpse across the hay,
and were interred with him. Part of this tradition receives confirmation
from an account incidentally given of King Gerennius, in an old book
called the 'Register of Llandaff.' It is there stated that, A.D.
588, Teliau, bishop of Llandaff, with some of his suffragan bishops, and
many of his followers, fled from Wales, to escape an epidemic called the
yellow plague, and migrated to Dole in Brittany, to visit Sampson, the
archbishop of that place, who was a countryman and friend of Teliau's.
'On his way thither,' says the old record, 'he came first to the region
of Cornwall, and was well received by Gerennius, the king of that
country, who treated him and his people with all honour. From thence he
proceeded to Armories, and remained there seven years and seven months;
when, hearing that the plague had ceased in Britain, he collected his
followers, -caused a large bark to be prepared, and returned to Wales.'
'In this,' the record proceeds, 'they all arrived at the port called
Din.Gerein, king Gerennius lying in the last extreme of life, who when
he had received the body of the Lord from the hand of St Teliau,
departed in joy to the Lord.' 'Probably,' says Whitaker, in his remarks
on this quotation, 'the royal remains were brought in great pomp by
water from Din-Gerein, on the western shore of the port, to Came, about
two miles off on the northern; the barge with the royal body was plated,
perhaps, with gold in places; perhaps, too, rowed with oars having
equally plates of silver upon them; and the pomp of the procession has
mixed confusedly with the interment of the body in the memory of
tradition.' "